The Daily Drift

The Daily Drift

Today's horoscope says:
Your financial situation seems to be a bit shaky at the moment -- or is it only that you're worried about it because you've been pleasantly distracted by more tender matters?
Regardless of how or why it's happened, return your attention to numbers -- just for a bit.
If the emotional situation is for real, it won't go anywhere -- and definitely not in the time it takes to balance the checkbook, sort through credit card receipts and get back to the ABCs of life.

Some of our readers today have been in:

Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand

Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Rome Lazio, Italy

Edithvale, Victoria, Australia

Paris, Ile-De-France, France

Santander, Cantabria, Spain

Montpellier, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

as well as India and in cities across the United States such as Bangor, Spring, Sylva, Exton and more.

Today is:

Today is Sunday, September 19, the 262nd day of 2010.

There are 103 days left in the year.

Today In History September 19

Today's unusual holiday or celebration is:

Talk Like A Pirate Day

It is also Wife Appreciation Day

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Say 'Arrrrrr'

The truth behind how pirates talk

The trademark snarls associated with buccaneers didn't actually originate on the high seas.  

 First to say 'Arrrrrr!' 

Also: 

• 'Talk Like a Pirate Day'
• Marines rescue ship
• Parrot solves puzzles

Upping the cute factor

Sweet and Innocent

The craziest ways people save money

The craziest ways people save money

Counting coupons was just the start for a man who had relatives save ketchup packets.  

Other creative savers 

Also: 

• More saving tips
• New investing rules
• Credit card traps

Autumn Leaves

The top ten signs you've hired the wrong kid to rake your leaves:

10. He charges you by the leaf.

9. Keeps asking where he should plug in the rake.

8. Picks up leaves one at a time, dips them in nacho cheese and eats them.

7. Says, "This'll just take a minute," and starts soaking your lawn with gasoline.

6. Your neighbor calls and asks, "Who's that naked guy chasing my dog with your rake?"

5. Half an hour after he starts, you notice he's sitting on your back porch.

4. You recognize his work gloves from the O.J. Simpson trial.

3. Comes to your door and says, "I've had a long talk with the leaves, and they've decided to stay."

2. Constantly reminding you that he used to be famous for those 'Home Alone" movies.

1. His motto: "Rake a leaf, do a shot."

Hard Work

See more work signs at Call Center Consultants.

Really, Really Far From the Madding Crowd

image credit

If you need to get away from it all but you don't fancy living in a cave then you may want to consider the island of Elliðaey in Iceland. As one of the Vestmannaeyjar (in English, the Westman Islands) in the South of Iceland it really doesn't get much more isolated than this.

Ziggy

If I Fell

The Beatles

Ok here I have something very rare for you: "If I fell" performed by the Beatles on July 14th, 1964 in the BBC studio. The video is taken from the film A Hard Day's Night.

Retro Photo

Charlotte Rampling + Friend

What not to say when you're pulled over

What not to say when you're pulled over

Police officers offer some golden rules to follow when you're stopped on the road.

'We ask the questions, not them' 

Also: 

• Most-ticketed cars
• Toyota settles crash suit
• 100 top-rated green cars

NASA eyes Typhoon Fanapi approaching Taiwan

Infrared satellite data from NASA’s Aqua satellite revealed strong convection and a tight circulation center within Typhoon Fanapi as it heads for a landfall in Taiwan this weekend.

Full story

Anti-Aging Ice Cream Explored

The prospect of an ice cream that makes people look younger was being explored Saturday as the makers of Ben & Jerry's ice cream teamed up with U.S. scientists to focus on developing products containing anti-aging antioxidants.

Full story

Non Sequitur

Moron Sends Garbage-Scented Mailer

Need more proof that politicians are idiots?

NY repugican governor hopeful sends trash-scented flier.

Something stinks in about 200,000 mailboxes around New York - a flier from the new repugican nominee for governor.
A garbage-scented mailing by nominee Carl Paladino features the photos of seven Democrats, six of whom have been investigated and two who have resigned in scandal in the past four years.
"Something STINKS in Albany," the mailer says. Paladino spokesman Michael Caputo told The Associated Press on Thursday that the mailer is scented with a "landfill" odor.
He says the smell will get worse the longer it is exposed, just like Albany.

Check out those eyes ... He looks either stoned or drunk

Lard & Order

Skippy had this to say today:

There's trouble in the department of everybody's favorite Arizona Fascist, sheriff Arpaio.

L.A. Times:

Top officials in the office of Maricopa county sheriff Joe Arpaio used its anti-corruption unit to conduct politically motivated investigations, misled the public about a campaign fund that helped Arpaio win reelection and surveilled the Arizona lawman's campaign rivals, according to an internal memo from a high-ranking officer.

The 63-page memo, first reported Thursday by the Arizona republic, blames Arpaio's longtime no. 2 man, chief deputy Dave Hendershott, for the alleged criminal wrongdoing.

Tho to be technically fair, sheriff Arpaio himself is not accused of this wrongdoing. just his employees, that's all.

Texas Schoolbooks - Again

Those Texas sure are concerned about their kids: Texas education board to consider rule on Islam's portrayal in textbooks.

Just when it appeared the State Board of Education was done with the culture wars, the panel is about to wade into the issue of what students should learn about Islam.
The board will consider a resolution next week that would warn publishers not to push a pro-Islamic, anti-Christian viewpoint in world history textbooks.
Members of the board's social conservative bloc asked for the resolution after an unsuccessful candidate for a board seat called on the panel to head off any bias against Christians in new social studies books. Some contend that "Middle Easterners" are increasingly buying into companies that publish textbooks.

Shoe

Woman arrested for redistributing dog droppings

Dog is man's best friend. Dog feces, not so much. Susan M. Miller had the misfortune of stepping into droppings a neighbor's dog deposited earlier this week outside her apartment in far west-central Naperville. Her reaction proved to be a bit unorthodox.
A written Naperville police report indicated officers were called about 8:18 p.m. on Wednesday to Miller's home on the 800 block of Beaumont Drive, in the Brittany Springs apartment complex. The 43-year-old Miller was apparently "fed up with dog feces" being left on the grounds of the complex. And so she allegedly "decided to wipe the dog feces which she stepped in on the porch of a dog owner."

Miller then allegedly "threw dog feces at the sliding patio screen" of that apartment. Miller "then located a sign — stating to residents to pick up dog waste — that was posted in the complex, uprooted it and placed it on the dog owner's patio." She then allegedly strung several small, green plastic bags filled with dog feces "on various places on the patio." When police arrived at the scene, they found Miller running in the complex grounds.

She allegedly "yelled back that she was running to catch a cat, and not running from the police." She also "yelled back asking if we were there about the (woman) with dog poop." Miller was arrested "after she captured her roommate's cat." She was charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor.

Russian bailiffs threaten to seize pensioner's puppies to pay debt

Russian bailiffs have threatened to take what is most precious from a Russian pensioner who has failed to pay a debt - her three Shar Pei pedigree puppies, they said on Friday.
The pensioner, who bailiffs did not name, owes 350,000 roubles (£7,249) to an individual in her home town in Russia's volcanic Kamchatka region in the Far East.

"If she does not fulfill her obligations (to pay back the debt) within 10 days, the puppies will be sold by the Federal Agency for State Property Management," bailiffs said in a statement.

In Kamchatka, Shar Pei puppies fetch 15,000 roubles each. But bailiffs said they will try sell them for 5,000 roubles to attract more potential buyers. They added that the famously wrinkled Shar Pei puppies have been allowed for the time being to remain with the pensioner, who breeds them as her sole source of income as she has no property.

Store worker tried to scam lottery winner out of $14m

A convenience store worker has been shamed after he refused to handover an elderly mans $14 million lottery ticket. Milledge McCassell, 72, went to Dynasty Deli and Grocery in Queens, New York, to check his ticket and "Big Winner!" flashed on the electronic scanner available to customers.
However, when he handed his winning ticket to the store worker to find out how much he had won, the worker said he was not a big winner and refused to hand back the ticket.

New York Lottery Director Gordon Medenica said that when Mr McCassell went back to the store and asked for the ticket back, the worker told him he had lost the ticket. Mr McCassell returned to the store three more times but was repeatedly rebuffed, and because he had not signed the ticket, anyone turning it into Lottery officials could have tried to collect the prize money.

However, the store worker miraculously found the missing ticket after police paid him a visit. Lottery officials said they believe the worker was holding onto the ticket and preparing to claim for it himself.

B.C.

Whale of a Tale at San Diego Zoo

Full story

When construction crews hit a hard spot at the San Diego Zoo , nobody could fathom what they would find in the depths of the dirt.

Gigantic Spider's Web Discovered In Madagascar

A newly discovered species of spider, called Darwin bark spider, living in Madagascar, makes the world's longest known web, spanning 82 feet (25m). The spider also makes the largest orb web yet found for any spider, and constructs it out of the most tough biomaterial yet known, say scientists.

Darwin's bark spider weaves its huge web over flowing rivers, stretching from bank to bank. It is so big that it can catch 30 or more prey insects at any one time.

How Do You Bathe a Stubborn Python?

How do you bathe a stubborn python (really, a real python)? In a bathtub, of course!
Vimeo user 8E captured the ordeal of giving her albino Burmese python Julius a bubble bath. The hardest part seems to be heaving the 130 lb (60 kg) snake into the tub.

Full Story